US Steel to restart Gary Works blast furnace next week

Integrated steelmaker US Steel will restart the No 6 blast furnace at its Gary Works steel mill in Indiana after the 4 July holiday weekend, nearly two months after it was idled because of Covid-19-related demand shocks.

The 1.36mn short ton (st)/yr blast furnace was idled at the end of April as part of a slew of closures beginning in March that at one point took more than 19mn st/yr of flat-rolled steel capacity offline as automakers and other steel-consuming manufacturers shuttered suddenly in the face of the growing coronavirus pandemic in the US.

The company said it was restarting the blast furnace to meet increased demand. Ferrous scrap market sources have said while scrap supply has risen, demand has remained relatively flat, and many expect prime scrap prices to fall by $20-$30/gross ton (gt) in the July ferrous trade, which should begin next week.

US Steel's decision comes weeks after US Steel restarted its idled 1.5mn st/yr No 1 blast furnace at its Mon Valley works south of Pittsburgh.

Multiple sources said the Mon Valley blast furnace was brought online because of production issues with the mill's smaller, 1.4mn st/yr No 3 blast furnace.

The restart comes as Cleveland-Cliffs is preparing to restart its AK Steel Dearborn steel mill in Detroit and NLMK Indiana begins firing up its electric arc furnace (EAF) after a nearly month-long outage. Market sources said JSW's Mingo Junction mill in Ohio has also been restarted after being taken offline for upgrades.

By Rye Druzin